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Mithyā

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | 605 words | Copyright

Mithyā (Skt., ‘false’). According to the philosophy of Advaita Vedānta, the phenomenal world perceived by the senses, which is ‘false’ (mithyā). The world cannot be determined as either existent or non-existent. According to Advaita Vedānta, the illumined sage sees the world as the Absolute, Brahman, undifferentiated consciousness, existence, and bliss. Yet the world, qua world, is perceived by the unillumined. Hence the phenomenal world is ‘false’, and its ontological status is indeterminable (sadasadbhyām anirvacanīya).

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